Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,93

stood up, ignoring his nudity.

Elizabeth scurried to her feet and backed away a step, her eyes wide on him.

"Milord, I—"

"How do ye know me?" He demanded, stepping towards her. She stepped back again. He didn't care. She hadn't outright spoken his name but she knew who he was, at least enough to know that he was a lord despite how she supposedly found him naked in the muck. "How do ye know me, woman?"

She blinked, regaining her composure, though her hands clenched together in fright in front of her. "Your hair."

His—? "What?"

She raised her finger and pointed. "Everyone knows that Lord Blaise Gray has that color hair. 'Tis the only reason I can think of as to why anyone would bother with robbing ye."

He sighed, relief pulsing through him at the obvious answer and hating how true her words rang to his ears. “Ah, I suppose that would have to be the truth.”

Blaise relaxed his body, he did not want to appear threatening to this woman who'd taken him in and, according to her, saved his life. Despite his calm stance, she remained tense and at a distance.

Ah, yes, he was naked and they were alone. Blaise sat back down in her bed of hay and pulled the filthy blanket over his lap, only then did Elizabeth breathe a sigh of relief. She still did not approach him.

"I apologize for my behavior. I had forgotten that I am so easily recognized by my despicable hair.”

Recognizable enough to be made into an easy target by thieves. He thought sourly.

Elizabeth nodded. “It is a despicable color.”

Blaise clenched his hands into her damp, filthy blanket. “Regardless, you have my word that while I am here, I mean you no ill will."

If she made another comment like that, however, he might just take back that promise.

"Do ye behave so rashly with every lady you meet?"

He raised a brow at her and smiled at the obvious jest. "Lady?"

She bristled as his eyes travelled up and down her ragged gown, covered in the same muck she'd washed from his face, hands, and eyes, fraying in all the places he could see, and thin enough for holes to penetrate. "Aye. Lady. My father was a wealthy knight, but my mother decided to raise me in poverty rather than have him know me."

“And, where is your mother now?”

Her eyes did not meet his. “She is dead.”

Blaise's thoughts went away with him again. He would allow himself to feel no pity while in this suspicious state. "I suppose you would prefer some sort of payment for your services then?"

She did not attempt to deny her intent, though there was no malice in her words. "'Tis the least you could do for a woman who saved your life, milord."

His suspicions that she may have had something to do with his situation raised up again. 'Twould not be the first time a member of the lower class had attempted to manipulate him to get what they sought.

Marianne Holton had attempted to kidnap him and force a wedding on him when he denied the proposed agreement of marriage. Instead, through sheer luck, she kidnapped and married his father by mistake, William Gray. Now they were known throughout the land as a couple completely in love and devoted to one another, with one child already and another on the way.

While alone with Elizabeth, nude and not a weapon on him, Blaise did not mention his theory lest she turn into a raving banshee and attack him with a log from the dwindling fire she sat beside. She stirred something that smelled heavenly in the dented pot with a wooden spoon.

"I was not far from Graystone when I was attacked," he said, ignoring the scent. "Why bring me here instead of to my home?"

She looked over her shoulder, the disbelief in her eyes suggesting she thought he might be the crazed one between the two of them. "Do ye take me for a lunatic? Why would I go to yer father's castle, dragging his naked son behind me and demanding entrance from the rain? They would have me locked away until you awoke, and then who would believe that I had nothing to do with your robbery—"

"When you asked for your payment?" He finished.

Elizabeth turned her head away, but Blaise glimpsed the rising color in her neck before she did. She poured a thick stew into a crooked bowl and handed it to him with a spoon.

She turned away from him immediately, not waiting